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ff7 - Restore - chapter 7 scene 2
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"I think that's it," Cloud said cautiously, and stopped casting. Cid wiped his forehead and leaned against the wall. Nanaki dropped on his stomach right there on the spot.
On her bed, Tifa still lay motionless, but her skin wasn't flushed with fever anymore. Cloud lay a hand on her forehead. "Temperature seems normal." A Sense revealed no hidden problems.
"Shouldn't she wake up now?" Denzel asked from the communicating door to Cloud's bedroom. Barret had pulled him out in the corridor before, only for the boy to go straight to the hidden door. Cloud had told Barret to drop it. Denzel would only imagine worse than was actually happening if he was forbidden to see it.
"Hopefully she will in a minute," he said, matter of fact as much as he could. "But if she doesn't, that's normal too. She needs real sleep now."
He cracked the corridor door open. Barret was standing by the door with his arms crossed forbiddingly, towering over a Wutainese doctor. Reeve must have gone to do some kind of political maneuvering. Vincent of course was nowhere in sight.
Cloud gave the patiently waiting doctor a curt nod. "Thanks, we're good now. Barret," he said, gesturing him in. He closed the door behind Barret.
It was highly unlikely the doctor would have been of any help, even if they still needed him. None of the doctors and healers had offered more than a couple of palliatives and cryptic remarks. The only real help they'd gotten had been from one of Yuffie's ninjas, dropping by with herbs to make her sweat the poison out faster.
Cloud didn't have a lot of patience for politics even usually, but when one of his people was the point they were making, or the leverage -- well.
A knock at the door and Reeve walked in. He quickly took the room in, and relaxed on seeing their faces. Cloud was pretty sure he was still frowning, but perhaps it was a different kind.
"She's better?"
"Think so."
Nanaki pushed himself into a sitting position and sniffed at her hand. "The poison at least is gone," he informed them.
The bedroom was crowded, only Vincent and Yuffie missing. (And Aeris, but not as much as she had been, not as irrevocably, and that pulled his spine straighter, erased much of the frown.) Cloud waved Denzel closer; he weaved his way between Cid and Barret, stepped over Nanaki, and sat at the head of the bed, between Tifa and Cloud, where Cloud could drop a hand on his shoulder.
"Reeve? News?"
"The last archer died in custody -- suicide, apparently."
"The hell!" Cid growled.
Cloud didn't disbelieve it exactly but...
"Yes," said Reeve tiredly. "For the man to succeed in killing himself while under guard, someone else had to be inclined to let him."
"Or someone else killed him, same problem," Cid said. "How the hell did they even get to him? Who was guarding him?"
Reeve sighed. "I asked around but even my usual contacts wouldn't tell me anything. This is, I quote, a problem internal to Wutai, and will be treated as such."
"Tifa got hurt," Denzel started angrily. "She's not from Wutai."
"And they're very grateful, and wish her a prompt recovery, and--"
"Bullshit!" Barret hit the wall he was leaning on, making the hanging scrolls and the lamp bounce. He would have paced if there was enough space.
"Barret, calm down," Cloud said. "Reeve, any idea who backed the archers?"
"The only clue we have is the type of poison -- something they came up with to use against Shinra. It might be that this is a message, a judgment of Yuffie and her bonds with ... Something they see as Shinra-like."
Like, say, an organisation led by a previous member of their board of Directors, his tired, guilty expression seemed to say.
"Might just be that they know she uses materia," Cloud replied. "Then again they would just have used a faster kind if they wanted her dead for sure in one hit. Using this one, they weren't sure she'd die, so..."
"Yes," said Reeve. "The timing, also, was especially meaningful -- after Godo's reign was ritually over, but before Yuffie was confirmed. This was a warning, or a sign of disapproval. The traditionalists, then."
"Or people trying to get 'em blamed... Argh! I hate this kind of intrigue." Barret lifted his fist to hit the wall again, but at the last second stopped himself. Cid bumped his arm with an elbow, sympathetic.
Cloud sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The discussion wasn't going to go any further without new information. He leaned past Denzel to touch Tifa's forehead. Still no fever, and she even moved a little bit.
"I'm going to make a phone call."
"To your friend?" Nanaki asked, moving aside to let him pass.
Cloud paused to look at him, not sure how to interpret that tone. "...Yeah. He wanted to know how it went, with Tifa."
Well, Aeris and Zack did. He was pretty sure Sephiroth didn't.
"Useful guy to know, by the way," Cid said, and he sounded a little surprised that Cloud had made a friend they didn't know. "Wutai veteran?"
God but Cloud hated lying to them, even if only by omission. He made a sort of affirmative noise and quickly slipped through the door to his bedroom, closing it behind him.
"Seventh Heaven, where all your drinking dreams come true!"
"Hey, Aeris," he said, smiling. He couldn't help it.
She must have heard it in his voice, because she let out a long, slightly shaking breath. "Tifa."
"Yeah, she's -- I don't want to say 'fine', because she hasn't woken up yet, but it looks like it worked."
"Oh, thank you," she breathed out. Cloud had the feeling she wasn't talking to him.
"You keeping the bar?" he asked, suspicious -- she sounded like she was on the landline, nothing like the crisp clarity of the PHS network.
"I wish, it sounds like so much fun. No, I'm... Well. I'm washing dishes."
Not suspicious at all. "...Aeris."
"...In the bar. But the blinds are closed."
Thank god. The last thing they needed right now was someone who'd known her dropping by. "Do I want to know why you're doing dishes there?"
"I'm sure you must. It's a fascinating mystery. " A giggle. "Alright, not really. Zack made a bit of a mess yesterday. I think he'll need more training before he can be allowed behind the bar again."
Cloud felt a pang of homesickness for a home he had never really known; bad timing, bad luck -- never complete. He wanted to grab Tifa and Denzel and fly straight back and -- just be home.
"Soon, Cloud," she said, soothing. "We'll be waiting."
Cloud closed his eyes and made himself relax. "Yeah." Zack and Aeris, alive, waiting. Messing around behind the bar, in their kitchen. Sleeping in his bedroom. He smiled a little. "Yeah, okay."
Tifa might wake soon, and he needed to figure out a way to contact Yuffie, pool their resources. He switched tracks.
"He's asleep?"
Aeris didn't need to ask who. "Yes." A pause. "He's been dreaming a lot."
Huh. You weren't supposed to dream at all, when under a spell. Sometimes you'd even wake without realizing you'd lost time.
Then again this was twice now that he'd broken free, once from Cloud's casting and once from Aeris's. That plan to make Sephiroth harmless had been half-assed from the start, no matter how he wanted to tell himself it wasn't (nothing short of killing him again and salting the ashes would be anything but half-assed), and was now proving ridiculously ineffective; if even Aeris couldn't keep him down against his wishes, Cloud didn't know anyone who could.
The only thing that kept him from hyperventilating, that made the plan workable, was that Sephiroth was still there, willing to wait. Even willing to offer his unasked-for cooperation.
Watching Bio spread through Tifa's body, eating through her flesh as it went, watching her skin go greenish-brown as rot crawled under her skin -- it had been awful, almost unbearable, even for that short handful of seconds. If she could hold her hands steady when she woke, feel what she ought with her fingertips...
He might owe a debt there. Not a big enough one to balance the things Sephiroth had done, but...
"I'll call you tomorrow," he said. He hesitated, his finger on the disconnect button. "... Be safe."
"You too," she said with quiet gravity, and she ended the call first.
When he went back to Tifa's bedroom, Nanaki was staring at him, ears angled straight ahead, prickled up. He swiveled them backward and cocked them at a doubtful, wary angle as Cloud stared back.
Shit.
"Furball? Spike?" Cid asked, eyes narrowed as he stared back and forth between them.
And shit again.
Reeve and Barret turned to them as the silence lasted. Shit and fuck.
He didn't want to lie to them again. But.
"Cloud?"
"... Not here." He gave the door and window a meaningful look.
"How bad is it, really?" demanded Cid. "Because I'm starting to get some really bad fucking vibes from you here."
Aw, fuck. "Not all bad, there's -- good news too. But. Some parts of it are pretty..." He sighed, shook his head. "Not talking about it here, it really isn't the right place."
"Here as in the room or here as in the town? Because now Tifa's better nothing stops us from going up to the ship."
"Here as in the continent, feels like," Cloud said, and sighed. "It's not urgent."
"It's not like anything urgent is happening here either," Cid countered. "What's wrong with being prepared?"
"It'll distract you."
"You sound very sure about that," Reeve mused.
Cloud crossed the room and sat at Denzel's side on the bed. "I am. I can guarantee it."
Cid's eyes narrowed some more. "Nanaki?"
The beast shook his head slowly. "I likely misheard."
He likely hadn't. Come to think of it, hadn't he looked at him strange when asking about Cloud's friend, before Cloud even called back? Cloud couldn't be sure. Either way the cat was out of the bag now.
He was just very glad Nanaki was willing to trust him a little longer.
Next.
"I think that's it," Cloud said cautiously, and stopped casting. Cid wiped his forehead and leaned against the wall. Nanaki dropped on his stomach right there on the spot.
On her bed, Tifa still lay motionless, but her skin wasn't flushed with fever anymore. Cloud lay a hand on her forehead. "Temperature seems normal." A Sense revealed no hidden problems.
"Shouldn't she wake up now?" Denzel asked from the communicating door to Cloud's bedroom. Barret had pulled him out in the corridor before, only for the boy to go straight to the hidden door. Cloud had told Barret to drop it. Denzel would only imagine worse than was actually happening if he was forbidden to see it.
"Hopefully she will in a minute," he said, matter of fact as much as he could. "But if she doesn't, that's normal too. She needs real sleep now."
He cracked the corridor door open. Barret was standing by the door with his arms crossed forbiddingly, towering over a Wutainese doctor. Reeve must have gone to do some kind of political maneuvering. Vincent of course was nowhere in sight.
Cloud gave the patiently waiting doctor a curt nod. "Thanks, we're good now. Barret," he said, gesturing him in. He closed the door behind Barret.
It was highly unlikely the doctor would have been of any help, even if they still needed him. None of the doctors and healers had offered more than a couple of palliatives and cryptic remarks. The only real help they'd gotten had been from one of Yuffie's ninjas, dropping by with herbs to make her sweat the poison out faster.
Cloud didn't have a lot of patience for politics even usually, but when one of his people was the point they were making, or the leverage -- well.
A knock at the door and Reeve walked in. He quickly took the room in, and relaxed on seeing their faces. Cloud was pretty sure he was still frowning, but perhaps it was a different kind.
"She's better?"
"Think so."
Nanaki pushed himself into a sitting position and sniffed at her hand. "The poison at least is gone," he informed them.
The bedroom was crowded, only Vincent and Yuffie missing. (And Aeris, but not as much as she had been, not as irrevocably, and that pulled his spine straighter, erased much of the frown.) Cloud waved Denzel closer; he weaved his way between Cid and Barret, stepped over Nanaki, and sat at the head of the bed, between Tifa and Cloud, where Cloud could drop a hand on his shoulder.
"Reeve? News?"
"The last archer died in custody -- suicide, apparently."
"The hell!" Cid growled.
Cloud didn't disbelieve it exactly but...
"Yes," said Reeve tiredly. "For the man to succeed in killing himself while under guard, someone else had to be inclined to let him."
"Or someone else killed him, same problem," Cid said. "How the hell did they even get to him? Who was guarding him?"
Reeve sighed. "I asked around but even my usual contacts wouldn't tell me anything. This is, I quote, a problem internal to Wutai, and will be treated as such."
"Tifa got hurt," Denzel started angrily. "She's not from Wutai."
"And they're very grateful, and wish her a prompt recovery, and--"
"Bullshit!" Barret hit the wall he was leaning on, making the hanging scrolls and the lamp bounce. He would have paced if there was enough space.
"Barret, calm down," Cloud said. "Reeve, any idea who backed the archers?"
"The only clue we have is the type of poison -- something they came up with to use against Shinra. It might be that this is a message, a judgment of Yuffie and her bonds with ... Something they see as Shinra-like."
Like, say, an organisation led by a previous member of their board of Directors, his tired, guilty expression seemed to say.
"Might just be that they know she uses materia," Cloud replied. "Then again they would just have used a faster kind if they wanted her dead for sure in one hit. Using this one, they weren't sure she'd die, so..."
"Yes," said Reeve. "The timing, also, was especially meaningful -- after Godo's reign was ritually over, but before Yuffie was confirmed. This was a warning, or a sign of disapproval. The traditionalists, then."
"Or people trying to get 'em blamed... Argh! I hate this kind of intrigue." Barret lifted his fist to hit the wall again, but at the last second stopped himself. Cid bumped his arm with an elbow, sympathetic.
Cloud sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The discussion wasn't going to go any further without new information. He leaned past Denzel to touch Tifa's forehead. Still no fever, and she even moved a little bit.
"I'm going to make a phone call."
"To your friend?" Nanaki asked, moving aside to let him pass.
Cloud paused to look at him, not sure how to interpret that tone. "...Yeah. He wanted to know how it went, with Tifa."
Well, Aeris and Zack did. He was pretty sure Sephiroth didn't.
"Useful guy to know, by the way," Cid said, and he sounded a little surprised that Cloud had made a friend they didn't know. "Wutai veteran?"
God but Cloud hated lying to them, even if only by omission. He made a sort of affirmative noise and quickly slipped through the door to his bedroom, closing it behind him.
"Seventh Heaven, where all your drinking dreams come true!"
"Hey, Aeris," he said, smiling. He couldn't help it.
She must have heard it in his voice, because she let out a long, slightly shaking breath. "Tifa."
"Yeah, she's -- I don't want to say 'fine', because she hasn't woken up yet, but it looks like it worked."
"Oh, thank you," she breathed out. Cloud had the feeling she wasn't talking to him.
"You keeping the bar?" he asked, suspicious -- she sounded like she was on the landline, nothing like the crisp clarity of the PHS network.
"I wish, it sounds like so much fun. No, I'm... Well. I'm washing dishes."
Not suspicious at all. "...Aeris."
"...In the bar. But the blinds are closed."
Thank god. The last thing they needed right now was someone who'd known her dropping by. "Do I want to know why you're doing dishes there?"
"I'm sure you must. It's a fascinating mystery. " A giggle. "Alright, not really. Zack made a bit of a mess yesterday. I think he'll need more training before he can be allowed behind the bar again."
Cloud felt a pang of homesickness for a home he had never really known; bad timing, bad luck -- never complete. He wanted to grab Tifa and Denzel and fly straight back and -- just be home.
"Soon, Cloud," she said, soothing. "We'll be waiting."
Cloud closed his eyes and made himself relax. "Yeah." Zack and Aeris, alive, waiting. Messing around behind the bar, in their kitchen. Sleeping in his bedroom. He smiled a little. "Yeah, okay."
Tifa might wake soon, and he needed to figure out a way to contact Yuffie, pool their resources. He switched tracks.
"He's asleep?"
Aeris didn't need to ask who. "Yes." A pause. "He's been dreaming a lot."
Huh. You weren't supposed to dream at all, when under a spell. Sometimes you'd even wake without realizing you'd lost time.
Then again this was twice now that he'd broken free, once from Cloud's casting and once from Aeris's. That plan to make Sephiroth harmless had been half-assed from the start, no matter how he wanted to tell himself it wasn't (nothing short of killing him again and salting the ashes would be anything but half-assed), and was now proving ridiculously ineffective; if even Aeris couldn't keep him down against his wishes, Cloud didn't know anyone who could.
The only thing that kept him from hyperventilating, that made the plan workable, was that Sephiroth was still there, willing to wait. Even willing to offer his unasked-for cooperation.
Watching Bio spread through Tifa's body, eating through her flesh as it went, watching her skin go greenish-brown as rot crawled under her skin -- it had been awful, almost unbearable, even for that short handful of seconds. If she could hold her hands steady when she woke, feel what she ought with her fingertips...
He might owe a debt there. Not a big enough one to balance the things Sephiroth had done, but...
"I'll call you tomorrow," he said. He hesitated, his finger on the disconnect button. "... Be safe."
"You too," she said with quiet gravity, and she ended the call first.
When he went back to Tifa's bedroom, Nanaki was staring at him, ears angled straight ahead, prickled up. He swiveled them backward and cocked them at a doubtful, wary angle as Cloud stared back.
Shit.
"Furball? Spike?" Cid asked, eyes narrowed as he stared back and forth between them.
And shit again.
Reeve and Barret turned to them as the silence lasted. Shit and fuck.
He didn't want to lie to them again. But.
"Cloud?"
"... Not here." He gave the door and window a meaningful look.
"How bad is it, really?" demanded Cid. "Because I'm starting to get some really bad fucking vibes from you here."
Aw, fuck. "Not all bad, there's -- good news too. But. Some parts of it are pretty..." He sighed, shook his head. "Not talking about it here, it really isn't the right place."
"Here as in the room or here as in the town? Because now Tifa's better nothing stops us from going up to the ship."
"Here as in the continent, feels like," Cloud said, and sighed. "It's not urgent."
"It's not like anything urgent is happening here either," Cid countered. "What's wrong with being prepared?"
"It'll distract you."
"You sound very sure about that," Reeve mused.
Cloud crossed the room and sat at Denzel's side on the bed. "I am. I can guarantee it."
Cid's eyes narrowed some more. "Nanaki?"
The beast shook his head slowly. "I likely misheard."
He likely hadn't. Come to think of it, hadn't he looked at him strange when asking about Cloud's friend, before Cloud even called back? Cloud couldn't be sure. Either way the cat was out of the bag now.
He was just very glad Nanaki was willing to trust him a little longer.
Next.
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You make me want to play the game again XD
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It should be "connecting" not "communicating" since you really don't need a door to speak to someone in the same room right?
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The phrasing on this sentence is awkward: (nothing short of killing him again and salting the ashes would be anything but half-assed)
I think it should be: (anything less than killing him again and salting the ashes would be half-assed)
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maybe Tifa could give him some privat lessons when she's better again XD
loooove Nanaki!